Uh-oh, it's . . .

The Boston Market Story

Author's family goes to court in literary squabble

This story is embargoed until the Au Marché Boston on Champs Elysees Square stops trying to pass off chicken as "Squab Roti"

©2002 Agence France de-Presse

   PARIS, Texas -- Victor "Ken" Hugo's descendants went to court this week to argue that a newly published sequel to the 19th century classic "Les Numiserables" is a money-making scheme by publishers who used the novel's cast of characters to concoct a bestseller.

    Hugo's descendants argued that Francois "Frank" Scanodale's "Cosette or the Time of Rotisserie Poulet" violates intellectual property rights and betrays the spirit of the original novel, in which the hero, Jean "Ken" Bleujean, is sentenced to 30 years of stamping "I Love Paree" license plates in the Bastille for stealing a pair of levis.

    "Ze charaqtueres 'ave been keednaped," said Pierre "Ugueth" Hugo, the author's great-great-grandson, who is seeking a halt to publication and asking for several million francs in damages from the book's publishing house, Random Souse.

    Scanodale's book brings back the cast of Hugo's 1862 work -- sort of.

    In the original, Bleujean escapes from the Bastille and rescues Marius "Chris" Maurius from the barricade when it is overrun by Seine River Trolls during the French Revolution.

    In the new version, Jean "Ed" Bluejean steals a cornbread from the Rue de Ravioli Boston Market and is arrested when he tries to storm a construction barricade that is blocking his getaway.

    Worst of all, Hugo's family says, is the new Javert.  In the original, the obsessive police inspector tries to commit suicide by jumping in the Seine River, but instead is fished out and committed to the Nonant le Pines Medical Center for going in Seine.  In the new version, it his his brother, Javert "Julius" Zisa, the mayor of Hackensacques, a municipality just across the Pont de Montezuma from Taco Ville, Paris' large Mexican community.  After his brother is maligned by a local newspaper, "Julius" Zisa exacts Pont de Montezuma's Revenge on the newspaper by deliberately undercooking several rotisserie chicken dinners ordered by hungry copy editors one Saturday afternoon.

AGENCE FP - 29-12-42-HIKE